President William Ruto expressed optimism about maize farming across the country on Sunday, predicting that it could be the best Kenya has ever seen.
Ruto said during a thanksgiving service at Kisii’s Nyanturago Stadium that his ambitious plan to increase maize production in the country is beginning to bear fruit, especially now that farmers have access to affordable fertilizers.
He turged farmers to take advantage of the efforts by government to disburse more bags of fertiliser to achieve a bountiful harvest during the harvesting season.
“Upto now we have released 4 million bags of fertilizer and the 44 million we harvested last year this year, by the grace of God we will harvest 66 million bags,” he said.
“My aim is to ensure that we double the production of food crops in Kenya. What is the need of using Ksh.500 billion every year to borrow food that we can grow at home? he posed.
Farmers have been accessing bags of subsidized fertilizer through the E-voucher System launched in March with the aim of ensuring traceability and full accountability of the distribution process.
The ministry of Agriculture has remained committed to supplying over 300,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer during the long rains to enhance crop yields and productivity.
So far over 1,104,774 50kg bags have been distributed.
